Wigpool Ironstone Mine

Overview

An iron-ore mine on Wigpool Common at the north end of the Forest of Dean, developed by the Allaway brothers from about 1856 and one of the Forest's large ore mines. The principal mine was abandoned in 1918 and a last adit worked until 1924. Its gated entrances now shelter hibernating horseshoe bats.

History

By 1856 the Allaway brothers were developing an ore mine at Wigpool, on the north side of the Forest of Dean near Mitcheldean and Drybrook, and they built a tramroad to it that was carried north to meet the Gloucester to Hereford line at Lea. Its winding engine, of about 50 horsepower, was put up in 1857 or 1858 and both wound and pumped; in 1865 the shaft was about 130 yards deep and 9 feet across, with no guides, brake or depth indicator. On 8 May 1865 the engine broke down as three miners were being lowered in a cart, and two of them, Miles Symmonds and Cornelius Marfell, were thrown down the shaft and killed. An explorers' account gives the main shaft as 528 feet, sunk until a strong feeder of water was struck, with an earlier Columbus Shaft some 500 yards to the north-north-east and levels at 345 and 378 feet, and says that at its height 200 men raised 4,000 tons of ore a year.

With Buckshaft, Westbury Brook, Old Sling and Easter, Wigpool supplied much of the Forest's ore after 1871, but water was a constant problem in the deep eastern workings, and Wigpool was among the mines abandoned in the depression of the mid-1880s. Abandonment plans for Wigpool Nos. 1 and 2 are dated 1875, and for those pits with the Fox Hole, Meek's Hole, Steam Hole and Sway Hole workings 1887; a plan section is titled to the Lydney and Wigpool Iron Company. The principal mine was finally abandoned in 1918. From 1921 ore was taken out through an adit that gold prospectors had driven into the hillside a few years before, and its closure in 1924 ended ore mining on the eastern side of the Forest. In 1998 the mine was notified as a Site of Special Scientific Interest for its hibernating lesser and greater horseshoe bats.

Geology

Iron ore in the ring of Carboniferous Limestone around the Forest of Dean.

Workings

The Wigpool shaft and an earlier Columbus Shaft, with levels at 345 and 378 feet; a steam engine of about 50 horsepower for winding and pumping from 1857-58; workings at Fox Hole, Meek's Hole, Steam Hole and Sway Hole; a tramroad north to the railway at Lea; an adit worked from 1921 to 1924.

Closure

The principal mine was abandoned in 1918; an adit worked from 1921 closed in 1924, ending ore mining in the eastern Forest.

What remains

The entrances are gated and grilled to protect hibernating bats, whose use of the site was recorded as good in 2011. Explorers in 2020 described narrow, muddy passages and stalagmite formations.

Both shafts have long been obliterated.

Redevelopment

A 34.88-hectare Site of Special Scientific Interest since 1998; Wigpool nature reserve adjoins it on the west.

Related mines

• Westbury Brook Ironstone Mine — Neighbouring iron-ore mines of the eastern Forest of Dean, both among its large mines after 1871 and both bat SSSIs.

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• The main shaft was sunk to 528 feet, where a strong feeder of water was met. (uncertain) ³

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• By 1856 the Allaway brothers were developing an ore mine at Wigpool, on the north side of the Forest. ¹
• In 1865 the Wigpool Mine Works, near Drybrook, were the property of Messrs Allaway. ²
• In 1865 the Wigpool shaft was about 130 yards deep and 9 feet in diameter, wound by an engine of about 50 horsepower erected in 1857 or 1858. ²
• The main shaft was sunk to 528 feet, where a strong feeder of water was met. (uncertain) ³
• Plans record the abandonment of Wigpool Nos. 1 and 2 in 1875 and of those pits with the Fox Hole, Meek's Hole, Steam Hole and Sway Hole workings in 1887. ^4,5
• The principal mine was abandoned in 1918; an adit worked from 1921 closed in 1924, ending ore mining in the eastern Forest. ¹
• The mine was notified as a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1998 as a hibernation site for lesser and greater horseshoe bats. ⁶

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 5, Bledisloe Hundred, St Briavels Hundred, the Forest of Dean — Industry — Victoria County History / British History Online
2. (secondary) Wigpool Iron Mine Accident 1865 — Forest of Dean Family History Trust forum
3. (observational) Wigpool Iron Stone Mine, 29 February 2020 — 28DaysLater
4. (primary) BGS mine plan: Wigpool Nos. 1, 2, Fox Hole, Meek's Hole, Steam Hole, Sway Hole, iron ore, abandoned 2 September 1887 — BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans
5. (primary) BGS mine plan: Wigpool No. 1 & 2, iron ore, abandoned 1875 — BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans
6. (secondary) Wigpool Ironstone Mine — Wikipedia

Record created: 4 October 2026 · Last researched: 4 October 2026